Our View: Stop absurd redactions policies now

Police departments are blacking out the names on public records to protect against hypothetical nuisance lawsuits.

There are lots of things that are absurd about the extreme redaction policy that is now being practiced by law enforcement agencies across Wisconsin, but here is as good an illustration as any:

You can walk into the Stevens Point Police Department and request a recent arrest record of a John Smith or anyone who was recently arrested and police will happily hand over copies. Police reports are, after all, public records - this being America, where we do not arrest people in secret. But under the new policy, the copies you receive will have all the names blacked out. You'll know you're looking at John Smith's arrest record and police will confirm that, yes, they've handed you John Smith's arrest record. But John Smith's name will appear nowhere on the document.

There is something ridiculous and fundamentally incoherent about this. The names in the report are public enough to be confirmed by anyone who asks but not public enough to appear in the report. It does not make sense, and it's not a situation that can continue.

It is heartening to hear that view expressed by a law enforcement leader, and it should go a long way toward reassuring anyone who had a concern that our problem with this policy was driven by the venal, sensationalist values. It's not. Transparency in law enforcement is a hallmark value of a democracy, shared by the public and law enforcement alike.

And we take this statement of frustration by Hilts as one more reason that the new and extreme redaction policies cannot be allowed to go on. We renew our call on the leaders of Wausau and other governments that have taken up the policy to put a stop to it for good.

To review: The practice stems from an obscure ruling in a federal appeals court. An Illinois man said his rights were violated when police left some identifying information visible on a parking ticket on the windshield of his car. He sued and a federal appeals court upheld his lawsuit. The case is likely to make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court - but in the meantime, police departments across Wisconsin have been advised by insurance companies that, to protect themselves from similar lawsuits, they should get out their black markers and use them with abandon.

According to an insurance company lawyer, this is the most cautious path. And in some ways that's the insurance company's job, to counsel caution. But police are charged with serving the public interest. The federal appeals court ruling is absurd on its face; it cannot and will not stand. Under the current policy, police are allowing the prospect of a nuisance lawsuit that is doomed to fail to override the fundamental value of transparency.

We need city leadership to step in here and protect the public's interest in transparency - an interest that, as Hilts made clear, police departments absolutely share - should be the value that wins out.

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Our View: Stop absurd redactions policies now

There are lots of things that are absurd about the extreme redaction policy that is now being practiced by law enforcement agencies across Wisconsin, but here is as good an illustration as any:

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